Dream recall question

My recall has always remained ok but not good....if i sleep all night i never wake up to remember a dream and only really remember dreams after naps or short sleeps.
Last night i woke after every dream and recorded like 4 dreams which is something i never really do....im trying to pin point the reason....either its because it was a hot night or because when i struggled to sleep i went downstairs and ate food because i was hungry but it was food that you shouldnt eat before bed such as bread soup and oats....do you think the type of doos is the reason why i kept waking up with good recall or is it just luck that i remembered my dreams and all the food did was wake me up alot? Thanx

Maybe your brain had a delayed reaction to your LDing practice? I don't know if you just recently started/restarted though. I know I restarted again 3 days ago, and day 1 was 0 dreams, day two was one dream, and day 3 I remembered one during WBTB and another when normally waking.

If it was hot or another unnatural condition when you were sleeping, you're more prone to waking up (I think it's to do with the primitive sense of being more aware to dangers in an unfamiliar environment) and your brain probably decided after each dream was a good time to wake you up. Take it as a blessing I'd say! But you will definitely start to see more recall as you go on. I used to periodically do WBTB but even without it, at my peak, I was recalling 2-4 long detailed dreams simply upon waking, so keep at it!

I've found a good technique for improving recall is to, after RCing with the nose plugging/something physical, to check my surroundings and try to pay attention to all my senses for a short time, e.g. notice reflections in shiny surfaces e.g. cars, shop windows; notice the sound of the AC whirring, cars driving in the distance; try to smell anything in the air, e.g. someone's perfume; feel the clothes against your skin and the ground as you walk. For some, it helps with becoming lucid but for me it mostly helps with clarity and recall, which does still improve lucid dreams whenever I have them.

Cheers for the reply! Iv been off and on LDing for about 3 years and ad about 50-60 LDs but my recall has always been a struggle for me.....but what you said is really interesting about the fact that it was hot.
I think i saw your from england? If so ull know we have had some pretty nice weather the last 2 weeks or so and i always struggle to sleep when its either warm or hot so i might use this to my advantage...maybe turn my fan off before i goto sleep because once im asleep i sleep for like 12 hours streight and im not good at naturally waking up after dreams.
Thanks for the replies =)

Ohh, cool idea about making yourself uncomfortable. It sounds miserable to me, but cool idea!
I'm really lucky that I wake up constantly throughout the night, but I guess it kind of sucks for having a nice, restful sleep.

What's always worked really well for me in non lucid dreams is just writing my dreams in as much detail as I possibly can remember, and really struggling to remember for awhile. It's kind of time consuming but it always helped me to improve my recall pretty quickly. Or saying a mantra that I will remember!!!

For lucid dreams, I really like ~Dreamer~'s method for remembering lucid dreams where you narrate the lucid dream as it's happening, as though you're writing a story about the dream that you're experiencing. That always works wonders for my recall!